I’ve had this book in my collection of Bonsai books for many years. When someone asks to borrow a book that would be good for a beginner I reach for this one. Frankly, I hadn’t thought too much about who the author was until now. Yes, it is Colin Lewis and Neil Sutherland. Frankly, I bought it because it shows how to turn nursery stock into bonsai, and it actually deals with keeping bonsai in the four seasons. There’s even a picture showing snow on the bonsai. Our Club Library has a copy, it has a very attractive red Japanese maple on the cover. Chapter 3 talks about buying a bonsai, first in a bonsai nursery, then at a garden center. For our Elm workshop members, there is section on air layers, using a cork bark elm.

While dealing with the subjects one normally finds in almost all bonsai books, there are a number of unique items; such as, Maintenance Pruning, and Summer pinching. For our $5 Workshop group, Chaper 7 addresses Creating Your Bonsai. This chapter includes both junipers and cotoneaster. Chapter 8 addresses Aging and Refinement, showing how to create Jin and Shari. And for our Forest Planting Workshop group Colin is shown creating a Beech Group and a Forest on a Slab.

So, if you’re looking for a bonsai book, this is one to have!

- Ken Schultz